As we head into the final stretch of consumer voting in the Windows Phone Next App Star contest, I wanted reach out to the developer community with an update.

We created the contest to shine the spotlight on your creations, and to help get these apps exposed to more customers. We started with 64 finalists (32 paid and 32 free apps), out of 9,000 entrants from 79 markets, and you’ve narrowed the field to 16 apps with head-to-head, bracket-style voting. To date, over half a million total votes have been cast and we expect the excitement to rise as we enter the final ten days.

Each of the apps in the contest is unique, and offers features specific to its target audience—this really highlights the diversity of the Windows Phone Store app catalog. I wanted to take a minute to look at one match-up in particular that caught my attention, because it showcases the creativity of our developer community: the match-up between the addicting game Brain Cube Reloaded from XIMAD in San Francisco, CA, and the popular VoiceTranslator from SeNSSoft in Waltham, MA.

Up first is Brain Cube Reloaded, a follow-up on the original Brain Cube, a multi-level puzzle game. Users are challenged to manipulate tumbling blocks into place. With its increasing levels of difficulty, one user called the game “intense and challenging,” and another said it’s “crazy addicting.” The graphics on this game are very engaging, which, combined with a well thought-out plot across the levels and increasing difficulty as you progress, is sure to be a must-have for Windows Phone users.

Next up is VoiceTranslator. This unique app provides a cloud-based, voice-activated language translator that supports numerous languages. As global connectivity becomes a greater part of our everyday lives, this type of app has a bright future, and the very high ratings from thousands of reviews indicate that VoiceTranslator really hits the mark with Windows Phone users.

As the brackets narrow in on the Windows Phone Next App Star champion, you’ll see more match-ups like this one: very different apps going head-to-head to win fan votes and move to the next round. It has been fun getting to this point, and I am excited to see how users continue to support their favorite apps. And, we’ll continue promoting the contest and the finalist apps as they continue to gain broad exposure for the great work of the community. With four more rounds to go, this is still a wide-open contest to see who will be named the grand prize winner.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to vote yet, I think you’ll want to check out the work of your colleagues. There are less than 12 hours left in this round. As an added incentive, we’re giving away a Nokia Lumia 920 every day as part of our voter sweepstakes through the last day of the contest, April 8, 2013, so keep coming back and vote in every round*.